How Faith In God Makes Sense Of Our Pain

When I lost all hope following my parents divorce, my scarce understanding of God miscommunicated my need for Him. In turn, I put my hope in all the wrong places, where pleasure I received was tangible but not eternal; where love was lusted but not grounded; where joy wasn’t joy, but instead was the duplicitous mirage of permanent Earthly bliss.

UNAVOIDABLE CRISIS

I longed for connection, but the very picture of connection had been convoluted and misshapen by brokenness. Relationship lost its identity and I was redefining it for myself amidst an internal trauma. My thoughts were looking back instead of forward, hoping to aid my past in keeping my present from completely falling apart. When my motivation to retain the past was exhausted, I couldn’t handle the pressure of such a threat, and that is when my feelings of intimacy, security, and safety was crushed into despair. There was no place in the back of my mind where I felt I could hide my hope because I understood there was no going back to what was, and understanding that merely produced more hopelessness.

FALSE IDENTITY IN HINDSIGHT

Looking back as a 29-year-old man, I understand my parents’ divorce does not define my life. What I can admit however, in honesty, is that my parents’ divorce was a turning point for me. What I mean is that as a boy becoming a man—and as a boy interpreting the emotional incursions of divorce into the reality that is life—I came to understand what defines a person is what material we’re made out of. After moving to college, I came to unavoidably experience what I was not made out of. I was not made of internal strength, will power, any kind of belief system, or some image the world made of me. My mind had realized that my exterior had all along been a concoction of external influence, peer pressure, and the desire to people-please. But that was all a facade, not my identity. During my two-year stint in Florida, I learned so much about what I had been holding up in front of me for so many years, and I came to understand more clearly how heavy it was to hold up something that had never been me to begin with. You see, in my mind, my identity had begun with my parents’ divorce because my mind had overwritten the first ten years and redefined a new identity based on the newfound pain. That was my premature response to dealing with trauma. Moving to California after that helped me discover the next piece of the puzzle in finding myself.

THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD

Realizing who we aren’t is no one’s epilogue, it is merely a cliff note alluding to the cantankerous reality that is human life in a corrupted world. Realizing who we are, on the other hand, is the body of our story on Earth. This is what I came to understand after I left Florida and found myself in California.

Jesus Christ is my Lord and my best friend. But I didn’t know that until I moved to California and felt His presence come alive in me. If you’re wondering what that feels like, I can’t promise you that what it felt like then and what it feels like for me today is what it would feel like for you. God’s presence is like so many things. For me, it’s like wiping the dust and dirt off of my glasses and my eyes and peering into the world without distraction or filter. His presence feels like clarity, bringing satisfaction to the soul even if it doesn’t bring complacency to the body. God’s presence reveals the beauty behind everything, even disaster, and it opens my eyes to witness the majesty that is behind His creation: His fingerprint, His signature; His love.

OUR PAST IS A VEIL TO THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES

The reason why it’s important to keep the past in mind is to understand as a witness the way God works through pain, suffering, and adversity. But the past isn’t the dictionary of our soul— our past is the veil in which, when removed, reveals the true beauty in believing there is more to this life and its agonies than merely leaving the veil draped, mystifying the purpose for why we’re here. We’re not here to hold up facades or to be defined by our pain; we are here to come to know who we are through Jesus. With Jesus, we hold a higher purpose through our pain.

Everyone has a story to tell, and everyone’s past plays a significant role in the way we choose to move forward. The problem is, we cannot move forward if we choose to live in the past. This is why hindsight is a blessing: we’re able to look into the past to remember why our present is so important. The past isn’t meant for dwelling, but rather, to be a reference point for improvement. Our pain is a way of reminding us why we wouldn’t want to make the same mistakes again. Even doubt rather than belief is significant in pointing out why we are skeptical about one thing but more open to another. If we depend on circumstance, rather than placing hope in something beyond this life, then we set ourselves up for disappointment, constantly pleading for our present to live up to an expectation that it could never achieve.

THERE IS ONLY HOPE, THERE IS ONLY NOW

This is life when our past controls us, when we refuse to learn from the pain of our past rather than use the pain to clarify our present. This is disbelief in the face of a world that contends a purposeful life, where God uses our greatest hopes to help us reap the benefits of growing through the pain we experience; above a life where circumstance will never live up to our hopes. Here, we let go of the acrimony of the past and cling to the hope that God instills in us through Christ. Here, we experience His presence and come to know Him not only through Scripture, but through personal testimony, prayer, community, nature, and the sensations in our heart spirit reminding us we are not alone.

I am not my parents’ divorce, one of the most painful experiences of my existence. You, too, are not your worst pain. Through Christ, we are made stronger because of our pain and through our pain, and our Lord God promises we will never be alone, nor will we ever be forsaken (Deuteronomy 31:6).

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4 thoughts on “How Faith In God Makes Sense Of Our Pain”

Jehovah has used my pain to teach me to eliminate destructive traits from my life. He has used my pain to teach me that only He can heal deep cuts in my heart. He has used my pain to teach me that He is always there and that He always cares

Thank you for reading! I am also grateful for the perspective shift God has gifted me with. I feel blessed in that God has given me new eyes to see this life we live, and the desire to use these gifts to hopefully inspire others to Him. God bless you!